Children's Ages in Last Battle

[Knight of Narnia]

I know that there is no clear answer to this question but I was wanting to possibly get some input from the rest of y'all.

At one point during the book Jill mentions to Tirian that they had been in Narnia just a year ago in their time, but it says that Jill and Eustace were the only two still in school. What I am assuming Lewis meant was that they were the only two still in elementary school.

Here's how I figure this:

In LWW Edmund was about 10 (4th grade) and Lucy was about 8 (2nd grade). Add one year for Prince Caspian and one year for VDT and that would put Edmund in 6th grade (starting Junior high) and Lucy would be in 4th grade (perhaps that would be considered older in British Schools) and then if you add a year for the time from silver chair until the time in Last Battle then Edmund would be in 7th grade and Lucy would be in 5th. Eustace and Jill would be in 4th grade so I guess that would be considered the end of elementary school.

[onlymystory]

we've been debating this for a while. but where in the book does jill say it has only been a year? because that would answer the question for most of us.

[lions mane]

can u tell me where it says this cause i read this a few times and i don't remember it. but i think that eustace and jill are the same age as lucy (she just can't go back cause she's been there quite often) and i think in l.w.w. that she's 9 and ed.'s 11-12. so in l.b. i think that jill and eustace are 12-13.

[shirin]

Hi :)

I've not read the book more than once, to be honest, but it does say that all of them except Jill and Eustace were out of school. Plus Peter was mentioned as being between 20 and 25 (I think). So I'm guessing that the Pevensies were definitely above 18, including Lucy.
Does out of school in the British sense mean out of 'high school' i.e. 18+?

[sarahnarnia1983]

Hi :)

I've not read the book more than once, to be honest, but it does say that all of them except Jill and Eustace were out of school. Plus Peter was mentioned as being between 20 and 25 (I think). So I'm guessing that the Pevensies were definitely above 18, including Lucy.
Does out of school in the British sense mean out of 'high school' i.e. 18+?

in british school we have primary school (4-11) seniour school is (11-16)
then you ve got college which we can choose to go to between the ages (16-19) hope this helps

[Inklet]

What about the time period?

My mother was schooled in Glasgow in the thirties and forties and says it was normal to leave school at 12.

That may be only for the the poorer families, though. My sense is that Lewis's children were middle class.

[shirin]

What about the time period?

My mother was schooled in Glasgow in the thirties and forties and says it was normal to leave school at 12.

That may be only for the the poorer families, though. My sense is that Lewis's children were middle class.

I agree; I definitely think the Pevensie children were middleclass or upper middle class. I don't know if really poor families could afford to send their children away during the 2nd World War to the countryside. Besides, it seems to me that the Professor is very well off, and it would be odd for a poor family to be on such close terms with such a rich man (in my opinion).

Also, thanks for the information, sarahnarnia1983.

[Knight of Narnia]

Thank You very much for your information SarahofNarnia,

That really helps out a whole lot with understanding everything. I had thought that "out of school" had meant that they had finished Elementary School and were no longer considered children.

[LadyAnneH]

Just because most of the other books have a one-year gap between them I think we just assume there is a year between Silver Chair and Last Battle. Has anyone found textual evidence of the time yet, perhaps the gap for this one is 2-3 years? (I haven't looked yet, but I will). From what I remember Eustace and Jill don't seem like little kids, but they seem more like young teens to me. Perhaps 13-15? Given Sarah's input and if a few years have passed between SC and LB, I don't see why the Pevensie's couldn't all be out of school? If students can leave school at 16 certainly enough time has past that even Lucy could be out, she might have just finished, but she was out.

[sarahnarnia1983]

What about the time period?

My mother was schooled in Glasgow in the thirties and forties and says it was normal to leave school at 12.

That may be only for the the poorer families, though. My sense is that Lewis's children were middle class.

we all tend to finsh school at 16 and it up to us if we want to go to college.

yes i think the previnses were middle class to upper class.

[Eustace Scrubb]

This is a very debatable fact because I don't think anywhere that it states the children's actual ages.

I know for a fact (I have a Narnia guide-companion book) that it was 9 earth-years between Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Last Battle, so Lucy alone would have to have been at least 18. Peter, being at least a few years older, would have been around 23. Diggory and Polly's adventures (and the creation of Narnia) took place in 1900, the Last Battle in 1949, so the two would have been anything from 60 and up.

And just for the record, when darkness falls on Narnia forever (Aslan ends it), it was 2555 years old, from it's creation to it's end.

[LadyAnneH]

Thanks for the book info, I think this helps a lot. Just out of curiousity which companion book do you have?

[Eustace Scrubb]

Thanks for the book info, I think this helps a lot. Just out of curiousity which companion book do you have?

I got all this information from a large book called "Narnia: Beyond the Wardrobe, The Official Guide to Narnia" and it says it's based on The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. It's a really good book, but it isn't really done in conjunction with the new movie - it has photos from it, but it's more a guide to C.S. Lewis's written work. I got the information about ages from the timeline of Narnian and Earth years in it.

I'm happy I could be of help btw!